The Friends of Clayton Square, St Johns, Wakefield

cont..
Secondly, reuse of this building by WGSF would create a link building between QUEGS and WGHS, and attain their goal. Thirdly, creating a public park/garden square with the remaining two-thirds of the site would satisfy the goal of the FOCS.

Consequently, the FOCS now proposes that the WGSF renovate and reuse the 19th century hospital building and WMDC finance and create a new public/park square on the remainder of the site.

cont..
This last statement is the central goal of FOCS but a goal which sees no need to replace "the later red brick extensions" with new unnecessary buildings. These new buildings would never be allowed if there were not existing buildings on the site. Furthermore, they cut the size of the new proposed park square in half.

The possibility has now arisen of a compromise which would serve the interests of all parties concerned with the the site. Firstly, keeping the original 19th century hospital building would satisfy the conservationists of Wakefield Civic Society and WMDC.

cont...
p112. "A central landscaped space such as a new square or formal garden facing the north west elevation will create a link between the two tree-lined streets and provide a new focus point within the conservation area."

p112. "Create a new landscaped public space that celebrates the character of the site and allows as many people as possible to benefit from it."

p.112. "The later red brick extensions to the hospital may be considered for demolition to introduce an opportunity for significant high quality and contemporary educational or residential development."

p112. ".....the Clayton Hospital Site can become a beautiful destination point within the Wakefield district."

cont..
p. 105. "Whilst consideration may be given to an element of modern enabling development to support its conversion and re-use, complete demolition of the 19th Century heritage asset is not supported by this guidance and would need to be strongly justified in relation to National and Local policies’."

Demolition of the original 19th century stone building is central to the financial viability of the WGSF plan but the guidance has made clear this would not be allowed.

p.111. "new public space at the heart of the site", "maximise existing green areas to create a local amenity", "maintain mature trees", "maintain views through the site".

p112. "As such, clear and convincing justification for any demolition or enabling development will be required by the Council."

p112. "Proposals for development which do not preserve the building’s architectural or historic features and the character of the conservation area will be opposed in line with national and local policies."

Excellent news - following contact with urbanists InteGreat PLUS by FOCS, many of the issues raised by FOCS have been sympathetically addressed in the Wakefield MDC draft consultation document for Wakefield City Centre Urban Design Framework (Supplementary Planning Document, January 2017).

http://consult.wakefield.gov.uk/portal/spatial_policy/udf/udfcd/udfcd?pointId=1481815585135

This document is a huge blow for Wakefield Grammar School Foundations (WGSF) previously published plans for development of the site.

Could all Wakefield signatories to the petition contact me via the link on my icon at the top of the page. This will enable a member database to be created for the group. Anyone signing the petition is anonymous to FoCS so you must pro-actively contact us.

Wakefield Grammar School Foundation (WGSF) has submitted its outline planning application to WMDC for a new sports and arts campus on the NHS Clayton Hospital site - 16/00798/OUT (August 2016).

The home page for the application on the WMDC website is - https://goo.gl/5hvZY4

First register your personal details and then you can log-in to view and comment on the application.

There are currently 17 public comments and 12 consultee comments. The latter can be found as part of the full documentation for the application under the Associated Documents tab.

FoCS has submitted a public comment as a community group.

Most of the public comments object to the demolition of the original Victorian stone-built hospital building by WGSF. However, FoCS is in agreement with WGSF on this point.

There appears to be three central planning issues with the Wakefield Grammar School Foundation redevelopment proposals. Firstly, the enormous scale and style of the proposed sport and cultural "sheds" in the 18th century conservation area. Secondly, the large amount of pedestrian and vehicle activity that the "sheds" will generate in a quiet residential conservation area. Thirdly, the apparent need to have a large commercial office building on the site in order to finance the other buildings. If this type of building is to be allowed on this site in the conservation area then it would also be financially viable for Wakefield Council to use the same building to finance the purchase and redevelopment of the site as a public park/garden. Why should a public site be sold to a private developer (WGSF) if it can be readily retained and repurposed as a public site?

Wakefield Grammar School Foundation has published two redevelopment proposals for Clayton Square at http://www.claytonredevelopment.co.uk. It is asking for feedback on the proposals via a feedback form.

A campaign letter has been published in the Wakefield Express (December 25th, 2015), Expressletters page 40, with the headline, "Clayton Should Be For Public Use".